Legend of Kage 2 may not have the most outstanding pedigree in the canon of …

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Nowadays, it's rare that a week goes by without some kind of retro-gaming revival. It has gotten to the point where even lesser-known franchises are coming back to life. Such is the case of The Legend of Kage 2. The lackluster original was a Taito-born side-scrolling beat-'em-up which hit the NES among other platforms and didn't fare well. In spite of that, a sequel to the game some 20 years later has been released for the DS.

Strange as it may seem, this is one of those rare times where a franchise comes back to life better than the original. For what Legend of Kage 2 lacks in pedigree, it makes up for in spades with raw action. Sure, there's a story about ninjas and Japanese princesses, deception and revenge, but all that really matters is the game's non-stop, high-flying ninja action.

As with the original, the main appeal is super-jumping. Kage (or his female companion) is capable of climbing into the skies like any good ninja can, making the action as much vertical as it is horizontal. You'll spend as much time moving up as you do moving forward. The vertical play has been made even more ridiculous by the use of the second screen on the DS, giving you even more room to climb trees and walls to the heavens.

This and the game's combo scoring system make for moments of side-scrolling bliss. The faster you move through the maps, and the more enemies you slay while doing it, the better your end score is. Speeding through levels and running up 90 degree summits and dancing across treetops, all the while slicing and dicing foes—it feels like Taito forcefully mated Shinobi and Sonic games into one glorious love child of awesome. And Castlevania and Strider are somehow the uncles.

The speed of the game play does come at a cost in that combat does lack depth. Most enemies can be dispatched with just one or two sword slashes or shuriken. Thankfully, there are a few new features for the DS game that help to make it a little more varied. For one, the player character can earn new moves and upgrade old ones over time. You'll start with just a basic strike and a low jump, but eventually you'll earn multi-hit combos, bigger jumps, slides, and more. By the end of the game, you'll have quite a bit of skills to utilize, and thankfully all of them feel great most of the time. The game controls well for the most part, though jumping can be a little touchy at times, and Kage has a tendency to stick to ceilings far too easily.

You'll also be able to learn ninjitsu, the game's equivalent to magic spells, by finding and combining magic orbs hidden about the levels. Combining these orbs involves creating triangles by dragging and dropping the orbs onto a grid in the menu: you make triangular combination to unlock spells, and you'll need to mix and match the four different kinds of orbs to discover new spells. It's a simple mechanic, but it does create a bit of a drive to explore old levels in search of missed orbs.

Sadly, that extra drive winds up being a bit of a necessity, as the game is a little on the easy side. As mentioned, the game's non-boss enemies are pretty brainless and easily dispatched with some quick reflexes. Environmental traps are pretty dangerous, but easily avoided, thanks to the obscene jumping power of the player character. Bosses can be tough at first, but the patterns are pretty easy to spot. And, above all else, the generous continue system eliminates any obscene challenge. But still, the game is a blast to play, and the search for ninjitsu, as well as the post-level rankings, unlockable art, and post-game ultra difficulty modes will keep you coming back for more.

Legend of Kage 2 definitely turned out to be a bit of a surprise. With the success of Konami's Castlevania remakes, it's not entirely surprising to see Taito try to capture some of that 2D side-scrolling love that seems to be in abundance with DS players. And even though the franchise isn't exactly the strongest, this new DS entry is fantastic—I've even come to prefer it over the DS Castlevania games myself, just because of the speed. This is the most fun I've had with my DS in quite a while and for a paltry $20.